Selection Sunday has come and gone, and, well, there's clearly nothing left to do but to complain.
Yes there were snubs, and yes there were generous bids, but hey, the teams have been picked so why and argue with the committee's decisions? I'll tell you why.
What else are we going to do until Thursday?
Anyways, let's get started. The snubs.
Saint Mary's , San Diego State , and Auburn
Saint Mary's was left out of this years tournament because there just weren't enough At-Large bids to go around. This was because of teams like Cleveland St., who won the Horizon League and forced Butler to get in by way of an At-Large bid.
And just let me be the first to say, I like this, because I am a fighter for the mid to low level conferences getting more than one team in the tournament. Who's to say they don't deserve as much of a shot as the 6th place finisher in a power conference?
Back to the topic at hand, Saint Mary's.
The Gaels finished at 26-6 while going 10-4 in West Coast Conference play, not too shabby.
However, against the AP, a dismal 0-3, and that my friends, is all that counts to our good ol' committee.
On to San Diego State and Auburn. The Aztecs first.
San Diego had a very strong 23-9 record, 11-5 in a tough Mountain West Conference, and a 1-1 record vs. AP, yet they still came up short, mainly due to the fact that there was no room left. Too many teams with better than average numbers and wins, keeping each other from going to the big dance.
Auburn was a tad bit different. Unlike the Gaels and Aztecs, the Tigers play in a power conference, the SEC, which is home to the former powerhouse known only as The Florida Gators.
The Tigers went 22-11 overall, and 10-6 in conference play, with a 1-2 record vs. AP. Sounds good right? Wrong. Well, maybe wrong. Ehh, actually, yeah WRONG.
The SEC was an incredibly weak conference this year, only sending 3 teams dancing.....
Those are the biggest snubs that come to mind for me. I could include Penn State, however, I hate the Big Ten.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Certainly agree with you on the Big 10. I throw Creighton into the mix for biggest snubs as well. Great year for them that ended two games too short.
ReplyDeleteI'll still put a healthy St. Mary's team up against Arizona or Wisconsin. The problem for the gaels was that Patrick Mills came back and was rusty. If he comes back a week earlier, he is ready to go for the WCC tourney and they put up a better showing at least.
When you argue over the 34th best team, it is what it is. But when the Pac Ten had a down year, do they really need 6 teams? Does the big 10 need 7? Share the wealth! Oh yeah, the wealth! We can be sure that will never happen!
Dave
http://bayareasportsfan.wordpress.com/